run out of womb

... learning how to be a mum from scratch

Sunday 17 September 2017

Review: a baby and toddler-fun day trip to Margate

When a sunny weekend blows into town, I'm drawn towards England's coastline like baby vom to a white T-shirt. The only problem is, so is everyone else. 

So when we were invited to visit Dreamland, Margate with face-painting specialists Snazaroo, in the middle of September - it sounded ideal. We hit the weather jackpot as the sun came out, there were no queues for any rides, and Dreamland - the retro fairground that dates back to 1908 and is compact and walkable, has lots for tots, and is packed with smiley staff and lovely designs - was brilliant. 


 
We kicked off getting Snazaroo'd up - I had no idea how much face-painting had moved in since my childhood. No longer the lurid whole-face butterfly or dinosaur look that takes hours of scrubbing to remove - their expert artist doodled my nieces festival-cool flowers...

Mr ROOW into a spider...
and tiny man got the hand-airplane he requested!
                                                      
In fact, it's so much nicer for a family day-out than the big names like Thorpe Park. It might not have wild, heart-stopping thrill rides, but Dreamland does have the oldest-rollercoaster-in-the-UK, a helter skelter, great street food carts, swing boats, slides, carousels, lovingly-restored rides AND, just outside its entrance, sea, sand, a sprinkling of nice shops (for that nap-time stroll). It was also a super easy journey - a 90-minute train ride from St Pancras, which has loads of free local parking on weekends. 

It's pretty reasonable too - all-ride wristbands start at £15, or you can pay for each ride. And elsewhere on-site, there's the Octopus Garden (which costs extra)- an amazing Kidzania-type space full of big pretend shops, kitchens, a little beach, circus tent, and even a chalk-board-roomed art gallery (the Turbot Gallery - with some modern artwork that made more sense than the walls of the Turner down the road). There's a soft play area and ball pond, too, plus arcades and roller disco. But we spent most of our time in Dreamland's outside areas: riding the rides, gazing at the bright colours, toddling the wide open spaces, and climbing the almost-Hollywood huge letters..






Elsewhere in Margate there's plenty to do too - this time we just strolled the beach before catching the train home - but in the past we've taken a saunter to Turner Contemporary's beautiful (and free) gallery, with lots of space for tots to explore, and took advantage of tiny man's afternoon-nap for a round of mini golf at possibly Britain's most scenic green... 
 * Thanks to Snazaroo for a fab day out, amazing painting and organising tickets to Dreamland, but rest assured that we're seriously gobby and only rave about things we love.
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2 comments

  1. Totally disagree that Dreamland is baby and toddler friendly. Aside from the carousel was there anything else a toddler below 1m could go on? Great blog and glad you had a good time but I disagree.

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    Replies
    1. Yes ours went on lots of vehicle rides! Rocket, cars, motorbike, loved them and also the huge slide in our lap. He also liked the swing boats a lot, and the huge soft play!

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